Heartbreaking News

When I first heard about this story it was sad enough. A family got caught in the terrible winter weather that had struck Oregon during the Thanksgiving holiday. Rescuers found the mother and her two young daughters alive, but the father, who had set out on foot to find help was missing. The family's last name was Kim and the father's first name was James -- fairly common names.

But last night, as I was watching the news, the sad report came telling how rescuers had found the body of James Kim. His photo flashed on the screen and that's when I recognized him -- James was one of the television personalities on the defunct and much-missed TechTV network. He was one of several Asian-American on-air personalities on that network. James continued his tech career at cnet.com and I would see his video reviews regularly on that web site.

As a father and a tech lover, my sincere condolences go out to his family.

I can stop my whining...

Well, I can complain no more. After 18 years as a semi-anonymous member, I am now the 2007 President (elect) of Lightning Velo, my beloved cycling club. To-date I have only held the semi-official position of newsletter editor and over the last few years I have published precious few newsletters. I guess at this point I will have little excuse for not having content for the newsletter.

I do believe that our club is at a crossroads. Some people say, "leave well enough alone," but I say, "unless you're moving forward, you're moving backwards." Our membership had been growing to ever-increasing, record levels. However, this year we had a fall off of members and difficulty in getting rider turnouts for our regular and special rides. Additionally, over the past two years, we have had to cancel some of our traditional non-cycling events.

So, in my ever optimistic style, I will try to help our club re-gain its heading and keep it healthy for the next few years.

Speed at the Beach (Photoblog Post #3)

The longest running bicycle race in southern California is the Manhattan Beach Gran Prix. Warm sunshine and cool ocean breezes make this one of the best attended races (racers and spectators) in the United States.

This year the racers behaved themselves better as the grinding of metal, carbon fiber, and bodies on asphalt was kept to a minimum. No one was able to break away in any of the races so the lycra-clad gladiators (and gladiatresses?) jockeyed for position in the last 300 meters between turn 4 and the finish line.

The big race of the day, the professional men, came down to who could lay down the most wattage after 1-1/2 hours at 30 MPH. Toyota United ruled the day.

I Don't Want to Believe This

Something is just plain wrong and I'm not sure which side of the story is fallible. Is it Floyd Landis, the modest, boy-next-door (assuming you are a Mennonite) who somehow suffered a personal failing by doing something unnatural and illegal to raise his testosterone level?

Or is it the drug testers who failed in their ability to design or perform tests that really root out the dopers?

Like Sports Illustrated writer, Austin Murphy, I want to believe that Floyd did not cheat. If he did, then I believe he should have his Tour de France victory taken away.

However, what irritates me the most is the rush to judgment by those who know little about sports, medicine, or science that Floyd is guilty based on the results of his A-sample urine test. What if the B-sample is negative? Will they eat their words (or the electrons that form their cyber-sentences)?

A couple of good articles have come out on some of the science behind Floyd's test result. First cyclingnews.com has an article, Floyd Landis positive: Was it the beer?

The other is Testosterone 101 on velonews.com:

Andrew Pipe, a physician and medical and scientific adviser to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports in Ottawa, says that synthetic testosterone is normally injected, but taking it in the middle of an athletic competition would have little effect in boosting performance.

"Anabolic steroids, of which testosterone is the granddaddy, can have a central nervous system effect," he said. "But anabolic steroids largely work by increasing the capacity for training and increasing the bulk and tolerance of muscles. That isn't going to happen in a few hours.

"The effect of the testosterone is not going to be experienced unless there's a very significant training endeavor associated with it as well."

I been actively involved in this sport as an amateur bicycle racer for over 30 years. I am not naive enough to think that Floyd wouldn't possibly use drugs, but this scenario does not make sense. Let's see what the B-sample shows.

Last, as in a previous entry, we need to do something to reduce the incentives to dope rather than increase the disincentives. Another velonews.com article, Developing the picture: A suggested mechanism for dealing with doping in sport, has some interesting thoughts on this topic.